


The Forgotten Child

by FanficsbyVe



Series: The Children of Gwyn [5]
Category: Dark Souls (Video Games), Dark Souls III
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 16:29:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10494909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanficsbyVe/pseuds/FanficsbyVe
Summary: In the Ringed City, an unknown child of Gwyn slumbers. SPOILERS FOR SECOND DLC. One-shot.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Felt I had to add this sort-of "second epilogue" thanks to the DLC.

He will come for her.

Filianore tells herself that, even in her dreams. As she lies slumbering here in the Ringed City, she holds out hope. That her father will come for her and bring her to court, so she can finally be the princess he promised she could be.

She isn’t like his other children. Her two half-brothers and older half-sister, whom she has never even met. They are the children of powerful goddesses, well-regarded by humans and important to Gwyn himself. He loved, desired or feared them enough to legitimize their offspring. Her mother, Evlana, only became a Goddess after her death. In life, she was Pharis, legendary archer and hunter, who at some point became a lover of Gwyn's. 

Her father’s heritage gave her a Lord’s Soul, or something akin to it, but her mother’s heritage was too low for her to be considered an equal to the royal children. Tongues would have wagged if he deigned it so. As such, she had grown up separately from them, in a fine apartment in the affluent districts of Anor Londo, her existence known to all but a few. 

Some might resent it, but Filianore had never felt that way. The people looking after her were kind and respectful, especially her handmaiden Shira who was of godly descent herself, and her father visited her every day. He was gentle and loving, comforted her when she was sad and cared for her when she was sick. He saw to it that she had the finest education, stating he was determined that when the time was right, he’d bring her to the palace and publicly acknowledge her as his child.

He had big plans for her, he said. After all, he didn’t intend to rule forever and needed a successor. That he planned to choose one based on merits, not order of birth or legitimacy. Therefore, he wanted her to have the same chances as them. So that when the time was right, she too would be a worthy goddess who, if not ruling Anor Londo, would greatly contribute to its splendor.

Her father’s love and support were all the motivation she needed. She worked hard every day. She learned and grew and refined her arts. She truly did her best to become more a princess, to work towards that day when she could finally go inside the grand palace of Anor Londo and share in that bliss.

Yet that day didn’t come. Instead of the Gods, there were the Pygmy Kings. Instead of sunshine, there was an eerie dusk. Instead of Anor Londo, there was the Ringed City. 

Gwyn had brought her and Shira here when she was on the cusp on womanhood, yet he had wept as he’d done so. He told her that something frightful was happening in this city. That there was something here that should never get out. Something that required a God’s magic to be contained. 

He told her that she would have to stay here for a while and sleep, as to create a magic barrier. To contain this force until a permanent solution could be found. He told her that he counted on her to do this for everyone and that he had complete faith in her.

Filianore, however, remembered being frightened. Something about this old city, already showing the vaguest signs of decay, created a great unrest in her. A sense of alarm. A deep, instinctual feeling that this might be a force even beyond her or her father. She had clung to him and told him, with tears in her eyes, that she didn’t want to stay.

Her father had cried as well, holding her close and telling her he didn’t want to leave her here either. Yet he saw no other choice, no other way to stave off this horror for now. All he could do was what he knew and trust in the strength she herself didn’t know she had.

He wouldn’t leave her here forever, he promised. Just a while. A short while, hopefully. Only until they found a solution and then, he would implement and come to reclaim her.

She wouldn’t go back to the house in the district either. No, when this was done, he wanted to take her to Anor Londo’s palace. To acknowledge her as his trueborn daughter and a princess in her own right. After all, she was his child, one he loved dearly, and regardless of her heritage, the Gods would be fools to dismiss the deeds she had done here.

It was there she had yielded, though not easily. With a last sob, she said goodbye to her father and Shira, then allowed the city’s mages to put her to sleep. The last thing she felt before her eyes closed that still that nagging sense of panic, but she told herself that Gwyn relied on her and that when her ordeal would be over, everything would change. 

Now, she sleeps. A deep slumber, full of dreams. Of a world of light and sunshine, yet with deep darkness brewing underneath the surface. Frightening darkness, one she fears would devour if it somehow clawed its way out. It frightens her more than she can bear and yet, she always reminds herself to do her duty first. 

She is a Goddess, after all. Not just in name, but in spirit. She can hang on a little longer, withstand the anguish and fear. After all, Anor Londo needs her to do this and she would not have been chosen if she couldn’t fulfill it. 

As such, she continues to sleep. Even when the dreams turn to nightmares. Even when the darkness claws at her flesh. She has to. Her father is counting on her and when he finds the cure for the dark, she will have to endure this no more.

When she awakens, her father will be there. She will go to Anor Londo. She will finally meet her half-siblings and she can only hope they will accept her as one of them. She will be a princess, a true one, and she will make sure that both Gods and Men will love her.

She will no longer be a forgotten child, but stand beside her family, looking over a world ruled by Fire.


End file.
